His First Adversity [ VIII ]

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Just before the Prince stood up from where he was pedalling to go over to Noname, Noname had fortunately spotted the adjutant camping on the roof of a building whilst stretching the already loaded string of a bow in Noname's direction. But as it seemed, the ignorant Prince had accidentally gotten in the adjutant's way when the arrow was just about to be released. The prince's sudden but impactful fall made the balloon tilt a bit in the twins' direction, consequently causing the arrow to hit and open the burner.

"Are we supposed to be flying this low? ....." Noname asked curiously, as he had just noticed that the hot air balloon was no longer at a higher altitude as it was. "...I mean, we are almost close to the rooftops!"

"Well, the charcoal produced the heat that had been keeping the air within the envelope warm and consequently giving the balloon its lift; there is none of it left in the burner, so I think we are really meant to go low at this instant." The prince responded in his knowledge of the hot air balloon with a deep-seated anxiety.

"Does the burner, and the charcoal within, also affect the speed of the balloon?" Noname asked yet another question as he had taken note of another phenomenon: the continuous gust of wind that swept through the hot air balloon, relative to its speed and direction, was disrupting the clearance of sound and had successfully unveiled Noname's true identity by sweeping away his fake beard and cloak into the wind.

"No..." the prince replied, even though the knowledge would probably do them no good at this point in time. "... that solely depends on the strength and speed of the one who ped..... " The prince immediately stopped speaking, and the duo swiftly turned to set their eyes on the pedal to see that no one was in fact pedalling, and the flames had noticeably increased and completely burnt down that part of the balloon.

Their altitude had already gotten as low as rooftop level, and they were flying just above the road!

"Fuku!" 

A loud cry from Lady Chan was suddenly heard, and just immediately, the hot air balloon made an impact on a street pole, causing the prince to lose his balance and fall out, but luckily, Noname caught him by hand. They both heard the call from Lady Chan, who was surprisingly running on the rooftop of one of the buildings, jumping to another at intervals. This really surprised them because they had never known Lady Chan to be so athletic.

"Fuku! I'm coming over; just hold on to the prince and don't let go!"

***

Lady Chan always referred to Noname as "My Fuku" or sometimes simply "Fuku". She strongly believed that as long as he was legitimately born into the royal family, he had every right to bear the esteemed family name and title, although she never dared call him that in a royal presence.

***

When the balloon was just at an altitude below the rooftops, Lady Chan ran speedily ahead of it and leaped sideways, causing herself to land right on the balloon.

By this time, the capital city of the kingdom was already in a deep state of commotion; people were fearfully giving way for both the balloon and the king. Lady Chan quickly helped Noname lift his brother; she then held them tight to her side and said...

"Clutch as hard and tight as you can; we are going to jump!"

"Jump?!" they both simultaneously exclaimed in a mix of emotions: fear, uncertainty, and surprise. 

The twins quickly held, with one hand, some ropes that were attached to the envelope, and Lady Chan with another... And before another question could be asked, the balloon, already almost touching the ground, made impact with an inclined cart, tossing them forward into a high altitude, still with the same speed they had while in the balloon. 

There was a large storey building facing them up ahead, it made a junction on the road. Lady Chan's plan was thus: They would fly straight through the window and exit through the other end, but the balloon was too large to pass through and therefore exploded on impact.

Just as planned by Lady Chan, the trio flew successfully into the building through a window, with the glass shattering on their bodies. They went across a hallway, and out of the building through another window on the other side. The explosion behind them caused an even faster passage, and with the speed it offered them, they went through without making any contact with the already broken window on the other end, which had glassy spikes on its frame .

They had successfully passed through the building due to Lady Chan's lifesaving plan but were still held by Lady Chan in midair when something forcefully pulled the twins backwards. This made Lady Chan lose her grip on the two young men, consequently losing her balance in the air, and unfortunately....

.....causing her to fall from the height!